Holly Azevedo is a cheerful person with an upbeat attitude that makes her hard not to like.

It’s a bonus if Azevedo is on your team, as she has been the past three years at Pioneer. A junior this past season, Azevedo went 25-3 in the circle with a 0.18 earned run average. She struck out 334 and walked just 16 in 191 innings pitched. At the plate she hit .482 with 10 extra base hits and 20 runs batted in.

Only five earned run were scored against Azevedo all season.

So it should come as a surprise to few Azevedo is the Prep2Prep CCS Player of the Year. She led Pioneer to the BVAL-Mt. Hamilton record and an overall record of 25-3. The team’s only losses were to Mt. Pleasant, Hillsdale and Archbishop Mitty, the last in the Central Coast Section Division II title game.

Mitty has defeated Pioneer three consecutive years in the championship game.

“They’re very mentally strong and they play us good,” Azevedo said. “Hopefully we can play them again (next season) and come out with a win. They’re just a very mentally tough team and their coaches always seem to know what pitches to call and their baserunning is good. Their mental game is strong.”

Pioneer had a young team in 2016, but it gained valuable experience. Next year it will have Azevedo back for a fourth crack at the BVAL-Mt. Pleasant league and a shot at Mitty perhaps, and she should be improved.

“I’m just trying to finesse my pitches and my spins and get everything on point,” Azevedo said. “Offensively, I’m just trying to get better, to improve.”

Toward that end Azevedo is playing for the Sorcerers travel team out of Fairfield, trekking to tournaments all around the country.

The UCLA commit has a 4.0 grade point average and plays the viola (slightly larger than a violin) and is interested in art. The athletic part comes naturally – her father played football and baseball in high school and her mother tennis and badminton.

Randy Metheany’s coaching style has changed over the years, but he is still successful. That is why he is the 2016 Prep2Prep CCS Co-Coach of the Year.

Metheany this season led Hillsdale to the Peninsula Athletic League-Bay title, beating out such other stalwarts as Half Moon Bay and Carlmont.

Metheany’s continued success is proof of his ability to adapt to the changing times and the improvements overall made by his girls and opponents.

“When I first started I decided we were going to run a lot, so we practiced our crossover step and challenged catchers. We ran on anyone and stole third base and if they threw the ball away, we scored. We got good jumps. Now I don’t run as much because catchers are better and pitchers are too. I also bunted a lot more in the old days.”

The “old days” were 1983 through 1996 when Metheany led Hillsdale to three Central Coast Section titles. The Fighting Knights won two consecutive, in 1990 and ’91, with Maureen Brady (sister of Tom Brady) in the circle. The 1991 team also included Nancy Brady at catcher and Julie Brady at shortstop, both also sisters of the New England Patriots quarterback who played at Serra High.

“The mound was only 40 feet in those days so I don’t know how anyone used to hit Maureen,” Metheany said. “I got up against her and couldn’t hit her. She was an incredible pitcher and person.”

Brady’s career victory total (she went 116-9) is a state record.

Metheany has been blessed by having outstanding pitchers over the years, including Maureen Brady, Karen Athanacio, Jordan Richwood and this year’s hurler, Eryn McCoy, a first-team Prep2Prep All-CCS choice.

McCoy went 68-18 in her four years in the circle for Hillsdale.

Metheany also coached the boys basketball team at Hillsdale for seven years and said his approach was not any different than for the boys.

“The first question I asked (the girls) was how do you want to be coached, as a lady or as an athlete. They always said ‘as an athlete.’ So we worked our tails off on fundamentals and learned them better than anyone and were ready to take on teams from the first pitch on.”

It’s been a good year for Metheany. He was also inducted into the San Mateo County Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame this month.

Metheany, 60, played basketball at Hillsdale alongside Rod Williams, one of the CCS’s all-time leading scorers who went on to play at USF.

Many people may question whether a new coach stepping into a program with as much history as San Benito softball can keep the legacy alive. For Andrew Barragan, that was no problem at all.

Barragan, an insurance agent in Hollister, served as the pitching coach for San Benito High’s baseball team for six seasons. He has also coached the Blackjacks, a local softball club team for top area talent. A 1989 graduate of San Benito himself, Barragan was no stranger to the rich history of Baler softball, a program under famed coach Scott Smith which won nine of the last 10 CCS titles.

“I’m excited, ecstatic and ready to go. I’m looking forward to having a fantastic season, because let’s face it, we’ll have a target on our back as the defending champs. I’m ready to defend and we have the horses to do it,” said Barragan prior to the season.

Not only was he excited, but also driven. The Haybalers ended the season 25-3, winning the Monterey Bay League’s Gabilan Division and the Central Coast Section Division I championship after coming back from a 5-1 second-inning deficit.

Barragan also challenged this year's team against top out-of-section competition, capturing the NorCal Classic against elite Sac-Joaquin programs such as Merced and Elk Grove, and Southern California power Simi Valley.

“Coming into the year, I didn’t want to change too much from the legacy of Coach Smith who mentored me,” Barragan told Prep2Prep. “We had some speed this year so we were a little more aggressive on the bases.”

With senior Division I signee’s Callee Heen and Suzy Brookshire leading the charge, San Benito outscored its opponents 255-86 over the course of the season and added another section title to their list of accomplishments.

For his ability to step in and replace a legendary coach, and not only keep going without missing a beat, but continue to raise expectations in the Baler program, Barragan is our Central Coast Section Co-Coach of the Year.

Callee Heen

Julie Davis

Grace Garcia

Kacey Zobac

Holly Azevedo

Eryn McCoy

Kacey Zobac

McKinsey Thorpe

Callee Heen

Lauren Quirke

Suzy Brookshire

Julie Davis

Brittni Rossi

Grace Giguiere

Malia King-Jones

Savanna Smith

Grace Garcia

Julia Lucas

Kelsey Ching

Karina Tran

Emily Randall

Aly Gomonet

Karina Chavarria

Cameron Kondo

Abbey Donovan